


(It Must Be) True Love

by bdanderson



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Captain Swan - Freeform, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, True Love's Kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-12
Updated: 2015-05-12
Packaged: 2018-03-30 05:01:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3923863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bdanderson/pseuds/bdanderson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Season finale (4x22) reaction fic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	(It Must Be) True Love

When Emma vanishes into the dark and all that remains is the dagger _**–**_  her name on it, God,  _her name is in the bloody dagger_   _ **–**_ her parents take it and make sure it's somewhere safe. Killian keeps thinking about the words she said seconds before she sacrificed herself, the words he has been trying to hold back for  _so long_ , and every time he remembers he didn't get to say them back he only gets even more determined to find her.

In the end, Charming is the one who comes up with the easiest option. 

They're all sitting at the Charming's living room, David holding the dagger against his knees, when he says, "What if we just... Called for her? We have the dagger, we can control her. I know it's awful, but-"

"No, David, it's- that might be our only option. I was trying to come up with another solution, but..." Regina sighs, fixing her hair behind her ear. "It's not even that bad. We won't be actually controlling her, we'll just use the dagger to bring her back." She sounds tired, a lot like how Killian feels. Probably like Charming and Snow feel, too. 

Regina stands up and takes the dagger from David's hands. "I'm glad you said it before I had to, David." 

*

When Regina brings Emma back, all Killian can see is how different her eyes look. They don't lack the love he has seen in there before, no, although it's definitely different- but she just looks so damn  _tired_. 

Much differently than Rumple, Emma is still herself. Her outsides, at least, don't look any different at all. Her skin is still smooth, her eyes still as blue as the sky.

It's her heart that Killian worries for.

He's the first one who approaches. They're all scared, even though they'll never in a million years admit it. Killian's not. How could he? It was still her, his Swan, his  _love_ , the same beautiful face he has fallen in love with all this time ago-

When he gets close enough, her hands are trembling. But she still reaches out and touches her cold fingers to his, and it takes everything Killian has not to burst out in tears right then and there. Instead, he lets out a relieved breath and laces those gentle fingers between his.

"How are you feeling?" He asks carefully, not daring to speak louder than a whisper.

Her voice is small when she finally speaks. "Damaged. Dark. Like there are two different souls inside my body and I have no idea what to do with it, or which one is real."

"Hold on to that good part, love. We'll figure everything out. You'll be okay, I promise."

*

Belle - witty, intelligent,  _wonderful_  Belle - is the one who figures it out. Of course,  _of_   _course_  it's Belle the one who figures it out.

She tells him her story. He learns about how the Dark One _sort of_ kidnapped her and how they fell in love. How their first kiss almost broke the curse and how scared Rumplestilstkin was of letting go of his darkness.

Of course he had thought about True Love's Kiss. That's all he can think about while all the others keep looking for Merlin. Of course he knows it's supposed to break any curse, but- he's scared. If it doesn't work, if their love is not enough to save Emma... Killian's not sure of how badly it will affect him.

Also, there was one thing he didn't understand about Belle's story.

"If the kiss had the power to break the curse back at the Enchanted Forest, why-"

"Why didn't it break the curse once we kissed here in Storybrooke?"

"Exactly. I mean, when the croc- um, when Rumplestilstkin brought magic to this world, shouldn't true love's kiss be able to break any curse?"

"Emma broke Regina's curse even before there was magic in Storybrooke, and she didn't even believe in magic back then. I'm not a specialist, Killian, I'm not sure why our kisses never broke this terrible curse, but Rumple never really wanted to give up all that power. He wanted to be the Dark One. I guess that is probably why." She looks down and places a hand on top of his. "I can't be sure if this is going to work with Emma, but... It's definitely worth a try."

She squeezes his hand and looks up at him, her lips curling into a soft and encouraging smile. 

"Thank you, Belle. You are always such excellent help. I honestly don't know where we would all be if it wasn't for this brilliant brain of yours." Smiling, he squeezes her hand back and tries to stand up, but she stops him with fingers around his wrist.

"You did what Rumple couldn't. You became a better man, you let go of your darkness- Hook, even when you were  _made_  to be a coward you fought for her. A woman you had just met." He can see she's trying to fight back tears. "I wasn't enough to make my true love good, and it kills me everyday. Especially considering how hard I tried. Especially when I  _could_  see the good in him." She lets out a humorless laugh, finally letting a single tear fall. "But Hook, Emma  _was_  enough for you." Her words are careful, her voice firm. "Did you see love in her eyes when Regina brought her back?"

He thinks about his answer. He blinks once, twice, and nods. "It wasn't quite the same, but it was there. It was definitely there."

She breathes in, lets go of his hand. "Then let's just hope you are enough to make her good too."

*

Emma asks Regina to lock her up at the Charming's apartment. More specifically, she asks Regina to lock her up in her room. She's afraid of what she may do to Rumple once she's face to face with him, now that she's the Dark One. After all the trouble he had made her and her family go through, she has no idea what the darkness inside of her might make her do to the man who caused so much pain to everyone she cares about. So she asks to be locked up, and the easiest way is for someone to command her to do so.

So she trusts Regina with the dagger and then she is not able to leave the room even when she wants to.

Her parents bring her food. Henry comes and they read books together. She pretends to not notice how she hasn't seen her little brother since she's been back, just like she pretends to ignore the part of her who really wants to hurt Rumple and that goddamn Author-

She shakes her head and breathes in deep. Closing her eyes, she tries to force herself to sleep.

*

Killian knocks before coming in. 

Emma is sitting on her bed, legs crossed and head hanging down, her arms pressed against her knees. Killian wants to hug her so badly.

So he does. He comes closer carefully, like he's testing the waters. When she looks up, her eyes are a mix of desperation and loneliness- and as hard as it is to acknowledge, also darkness. 

When they finally hug, she doesn't melt into it like usually, but she does relax a bit. He lets go and looks into those sad eyes, his hand cupping her cheek, thumb caressing her soft skin. When he senses she needs the physical contact just as much as he does, that it's still okay to touch, he brings their foreheads together and nuzzles his nose against hers.

"It's like that bad person inside of me goes away whenever you're near." She whispers, eyelids closing, her fingers coming up to touch the hand Killian has on her face. "Does that make any sense at all?"

"God, love, of  _course_. Of course it makes sense." His voice sounds desperate even to his own ears; he rests his hook against her tiny waist and tries to get even closer. "I never got the chance to tell you-"

"Killian, I-"

They start saying at the same time, which makes them laugh breathily against each other's faces. It feels amazing to hear her laugh again.

"I love you too, Emma. You know that, right? You have to know that."

"I do." Both of her hands are on his face now, their mouths so close; he has to shut his eyes in order to keep breathing. "And I love you right back."

Despite everything - all the pain, the suffering, the trying-to-bring-back-the-light-in-you situation, - he smiles. It doesn't matter if it's only the second time he hears Emma admit it; Killian's pretty sure that in a hundred years from now, when she says those exact same words to him, his heart will flutter and stutter and expand just like it did the first time- just like it did right now.

He really, really needs to kiss her.

"Is it okay if I-"

"Yes. Please, just," she straddles his lap, her thighs pressing against his. "I need to feel you."

He uses his hand to bring her face to his and press their lips together. It's gentle and passionate and messy and it's  _everything_ , it's fucking  _everything-_ she's in his arms again,  _his_ , his to touch and cherish and love, even though her heart is dark now and even though everything is so wrong and so messed up- she's  _there_  and she  _loves_  him and she's kissing him like her life depends on it.

And then she's pulling back like she's been burned, eyes open wide and scared, "oh my God, Killian, oh- I think-"

"It's working, love. It's working, just- kiss me again. Keep kissing me."

She surges forward and smashes their mouths together again, her hands cradling his head and her lips moving hungrily over his. Killian's sure she can feel his arousal against her hip, and when she moves forward  _just so_ to press herself against it, looking for friction, he breaks away from the kiss to breathe.

"Emma," his hands travel to the soft curve of her ass, and they start rutting together. "You feel-"

"So good." She breathes against his mouth, then kisses a wet path down his jaw and chin. "Don't stop."

*

After, when they're naked and lying on her bed, still raggedly breathing, Emma looks up at him with a smirk on her lips. Her eyes look different now- like the darkness has suddenly and completely vanished. He can't help smiling back.

"Killian. Do you realize we just had True Love's Sex?"

He snorts at that, a laugh rapidly bubbling up his chest. "Bloody hell. We just had True Love's Sex." They both laugh again, though Emma stops with a groan when his fingers touch the base of her spine. "Swan,  _we had sex_."

"Oh my God. You are literally the only person who can say that sounding like an overexcited five-year-old boy." He pinches her thigh at that and she slaps his arm in response.

Then she's sitting up, suddenly looking very serious, looking right into Killian's eyes. She brings a hand to her naked chest and gasps loudly as she rips her own heart out; Killian sits up so rapidly it makes his head dizzy, reaching out to help her stand still.

"What in the bloody hell are you doing, Swan?"

She shows him her heart. It shines like a goddamn diamond, so red and bright and -  _weirdly?_  - beautiful. 

"Before, um. Before we kissed and somehow broke the curse, my heart was dark. Regina ripped it out to see what the curse did to it. It wasn't like- all dark, it was... very weird." She holds her heart carefully, moving it as if to check if it was really 'cured'. "It was literally half dark and half... Not. Exactly as I told you. Like half of me was still me, and the other half was this whole other terrible person."

"Love," he whispers, but makes himself stay quiet so she can finish.

"I was so scared. I still am. The things I wanted to do, I-"

"Hey, shhh, no. That wasn't you." He interrupts, moving closer and touching the hand she's holding her heart with. "Whatever that darkness made you feel, that wasn't real."

"I know that now." She whispers back, and moves to put her heart back to her chest. Killian helps her, so gently she almost doesn't twitch this time.

"It was strange. At the same time I knew I had all this power that I could use to get revenge or- or almost anything I wanted, really," she looks at him, big blue eyes wet and sincere, "at the same time I felt how easy it was to give in to darkness... Whenever I thought about you or Henry or my parents, it all just went away. Even if just for a minute."

He can feel his own gaze soften; their foreheads meet while their fingers lace together against the messy sheets. "You're a hero, Swan. Not even darkness can defeat you."

She smiles and kisses him once. "Thank you," another kiss, slower. "For having True Love's Sex with me and breaking the curse."

He laughs loudly, brightly, like he doesn't remember doing ever since that terrible night all those weeks ago. 

"You, my dear, are very welcome."


End file.
